Biography of American Idol and The X Factor judge - Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell, who was born in Brighton, England, is of Scottish and English Jew descent. His father Eric Philip Cowell was a music industry executive, while his mother Julie Brett is a socialite and former ballet dancer. Cowell was not born a millionaire; he worked on several odd jobs like the rest of the world. Lucky for Cowell, his father, who was executive at the EMI Music Publishing, got him a job in the mailroom. When an opportunity came and his father knew an A&R man who was looking for an assistant, Simon landed the job. From there, he worked his way up and eventually received a promotion to a music publishing position. However, Simon left the job during the early 1980s to form the E&S Music with Ellis Rich, his boss at EMI. Although the company successfully helped five singles reach the UK top 40, Cowell eventually left a few years later.

In the next eight years, Cowell worked for Iain Burton’s independent record label, Fanfare Records. He became Burton’s partner and helped Fanfare become a successful “indie pop” label, making numerous top ten hits with various artists. Cowell and his co-owned Fanfare Records helped Sinitta sell more than 500,000 copies of her debut single “So Macho” and over 500,000 albums of “Rondo Veneziano.” In 1984, when Fanfare’s parent company, Public Company, experienced financial difficulties, Fanfare became under BMG. Later that same year, Cowell started a job at BMG as an A&R consultant. Simon Cowell then helped numerous acts make a mark in the world of pop music through S-Records. These acts included Five, Ultimate Kaos, Westlife, Sonia Evans, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Robson & Jerome and various novelty recordings that featured Teletubbies, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the World Wrestling Federation, among others.

In 2001, Cowell became a judge on the first season of “Pop Idol.” The following year, Simon Cowell had two lucky breaks – he became one of the judges of American Idol and formed a new label Syco Records, which helped released albums of Leona Lewis, the operatic group Il Divo and contestants from America’s Got Talent and The X Factor. He also orchestrated the music career of Angelis, a child version of Il Divo. In 2006, he renewed his contract with American Idol for 5 years with a yearly pay of $40 million. He also signed a deal with ITV worth around $13 million, giving ITV the rights to Cowell’s British singing contest show ‘The X Factor’ and musical talent show ‘Grease Is The Word.’ With an impressive portfolio, a bulky paycheck and an ongoing career both on- and off-screen , it’s no wonder Simon Cowell made it to #21 on the 2007 Forbes Celebrity 100 Power List.